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The surviving arrestees were in Mexico City. MFJP Comandante Armando Pavon had been placed under house arrest and was also in Mexico City. The investigation had effectively been moved to Mexico City so the foreign press followed the investigation. Things quieted down in Guadalajara, the Mex-Feds had their orders; do not move without authority from Mexico City.

The director of the MFJP, Manuel Ibarra-Herrera had not yet been replaced but it appeared eminent. Ventura was reporting directly to the A.G’s office, an obvious affront to Ibarra, who had replaced Ventura with Miguel Aldana-Ibarra, his first cousin, when Manual Ibarra assumed the position of Director of the MFJP in 1983. DEA’s allegation that Manuel Ibarra had been responsible for allowing Juan Mata-Ballesteros to escape in Mexico City hadn’t helped him. The government needed to quell the outcry.

The Mexico City television stations had almost around the clock coverage now, reporting on the arrests. Two comandantes of the Jalisco State Police had been arrested, Gabriel Gonzales and Benjamin Locheo. Twenty-one others, including some ex-members of the force, and Adan Camberos, the son of “La Comanche” were also in custody.

As soon as the legal seventy-two hour period passed, during which the government could hold suspects incommunicado, they were paraded before the television cameras and, to a man, they repudiated their statements, saying they had been tortured to secure the confessions. They all showed signs of the brutal Mexican treatment, which accompanied the traditional interrogations. Each had deep marks across the bridge of his nose where adhesive tape had been wound to blindfold them. Some had severe bruises and still others displayed red marks around their wrists from handcuffs and ropes used to bind them.